Even out of position, Vanessa Selbst can be a dangerous player. Mike Beasley just got a glimpse of that first-hand.
Pre-flop, Selbst opened the betting with a raise to 160,000. Beasley had the button, giving him an opportunity to play a pot in position against Selbst. He was the only caller to a flop of . Vanessa deliberated before betting 260,000. Beasley called very quickly, probably inside of ten seconds.
The turn was the . Selbst again made a very deliberate bet of 490,000. For a second time, Beasley called inside of ten seconds.
The river was a seeming blank, the . Vanessa cut 13 orange (100K) chips off of her stack, added six blue (5K) chips and pushed them into the middle of the table, a bet of 1,330,000. This time Beasley was not so quick to call. He eyed Selbst and her stack, then asked how much she was playing behind. He tanked another minute or two before mucking his hand.
Action folded to Scott Seiver, who limped into the pot from the small blind. Cliff Josephy declined his option, taking the players to a flop of . Seiver checked. Josephy tried to bet 45,000 until he was informed that the minimum allowable bet was 50,000. Either way, it was enough to fold Seiver.
Mike Beasley called from the cutoff as did Michael Woods from the button. Al Melville gave up his small blind. Scott Seiver checked his option and the flop came down .
Seiver checked and Beasley bet 105,000. Woods and Seiver gave it up and Beasley took the pot.
Scott Seiver raised all in from under the gun for 1.11 million. Action folded to Mike Beasley on the button and he gave a quick thought to the hand before letting it go. Mike Woods did the same from the small blind and then Alistar Melville folded his big blind. Seiver scooped the pot and picked up some chips on the short stack.
Since the elimination of Jon Aguiar, the action has gone raise, re-raise, fold. Surprisingly only one of those pots was won by the highly aggressive Vanessa Selbst. It was the first pot she won at this final table and seemed surprised that her railbirds (about half a dozen strong, and armed with signs that read things like "I'm Gay for Vanessa") didn't applaud. She turned around and saw that they were being interviewed by NAPT hostess Amanda Leatherman.
Mike Beasley raised to 125,000 in the cutoff and Michael Woods popped it to 450,000 on the button. Jonathan Aguiar then moved all in from the small blind for 1.47 million. Al Melville gave up his big blind and Mike Beasley got out of the way as well.
Woods went into deep thought, intently staring at Aguiar trying to get a read. After a while in the tank, Woods made the call.
Aguiar:
Woods:
The flop came down and Woods maintained his lead. The turn card brought the and gave some additional outs to Aguiar. However, it was not meant to be for Aguiar as the hit the river and he was eliminated in eighth place.
Most of the world is watching Tiger Woods try to win the Masters today, but there's another Woods trying to take down a big tournament: Mike Woods. He was in the small blind for a hand in which Alistar Melville opened from under the gun to 150,000. Woods re-raised to 350,000, driving Jonathan Aguiar out of the hand. Melville quickly called.
Both players checked an all-paint flop, . Woods led out for 400,000 on the turn and induced a quick fold.